Article
Tracey Crowe puts corporate digital signage experience to work for Short Bites Media
Bill Yackey catches up with digital signage industry veteran Tracey Crowe, who has struck out on her own with Short Bites Media.
July 26, 2010
During the past several years, one of the biggest complaints from new entrants into the digital signage industry is that there isn't enough information out there about content. For many, networks originally fueled by the promise of pretty screens and fancy back-end technology have stalled due to lack of interesting content, or the ability to keep content fresh.
Tracey Crowe certainly felt this way. As a programming manager for Wachovia's in-branch digital signage network, it was her responsibility to develop fresh and engaging content. She said she often became frustrated when trying to learn more about content production for digital signage. (Avid readers of DigitalSignageToday.com may remember Crowe from an October, 2009, interview I did with her regarding her work with the Wachovia network.)
"When I was with Wachovia, there was little info out there about creating content," she said. "If you wanted something custom you basically had to do it yourself."
Fortunately for her and her former company, she had access to a corporate internal video and production facility. If she wanted a piece of content, she had the luxury of creating it herself.
Of course, she also knew that most companies don't have this luxury. It was that idea that spawned Short Bites Media, a new company specializing in off-the-shelf content for digital signage, headed by Crowe. The company is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. and was announced at the end of last month.
"I'm trying to go after a product that is missing in the digital signage world," Crowe said. Crowe has a degree in communication and film and production from Chapman University in Orange, Calif. In addition to digital signage content design and production for Wachovia, she has experience making travel documentaries and assisting production for local PBS stations.
Crowe has already begun building a library of clips in various video formats that companies can easily insert into their digital signage loops. Initially, these clips will pre-produced be "going green" tips and travel information about National Parks. They will be available in 15- and 30-second formats.
"Green is big in this country right now — there are so many articles, tips, websites out there," she said. Crowe also said that last year's Ken Burns documentary series on National Parks has stirred up more attention from travelers, making it a good category to gain attention from viewers. She plans on expanding the content library to feature Consumer Tips, Green Tips for the Workplace and additional Travel Tips in the future.
One of the challenges Crowe faces in this venture is making content that is going to be applicable to virtually any digital signage network. She's developing the pieces with audio, but they can also be freestanding without audio as well. The use of audio is something Crowe questioned in our 2009 interview.
"We realize that audio is an important element in drawing the viewer's attention, but we also recognize that even with changing our content on a weekly basis, our branch personnel can get annoyed at hearing the same thing for a week," she said then. "So our content has audio but is also designed to work visually if that audio is turned down or off."
Also, Crowe is positioning Short Bites Media to be a purveyor of "value-added content," meaning it's not designed to replace promotional content, rather supplement it.
"You can't bombard viewer with sales pitch after sales pitch," she said. "I want to create value added info that is useful."
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